Cliff Lee remained perfect in the postseason, pitching a complete-game six-hitter as the visiting Texas Rangers wrapped up the American League Division Series with a 5-1 victory over the Tampa Bay Rays in Tuesday’s decisive Game 5.
Lee (2-0) struck out 11 and did not walk a batter to improve to 6-0 lifetime in the playoffs. He set an ALDS record with 21 strikeouts in his two starts.
Ian Kinsler had a two-run homer and Nelson Cruz had three hits as the Rangers captured their first postseason series in franchise history and advanced to the AL Championship Series against the New York Yankees.
Texas will host Game 1 on Friday night at Rangers Ballpark.
Lee won both his starts on the road to complete an odd series in which the home team failed to win a game for the first time. The 32-year-old left-hander, who was acquired from Seattle in July, went 4-0 in the postseason with Philadelphia a year ago.
Rays starter David Price (0-2), the Game 1 loser, allowed three runs on eight hits while striking out six in six innings.
Lee’s teammates did not do much offensively until Kinsler’s third homer of the series in the ninth inning. Prior to that, they used their legs to manufacture all of their runs as three Texas runners scored from second base on balls that never left the infield.
Lee allowed a run in the third and had runners on second and third with one out, but retired Carl Crawford and Evan Longoria and cruised from there.
The Rangers took a 1-0 lead when Elvis Andrus never stopped running and scored from second on a groundout to first base in the first.
After the Rays tied it on Ben Zobrist's RBI single in the third, the Rangers regained the lead in their next at-bat as Cruz doubled, stole third and scored on catcher Kelly Shoppach's wild throw.
Texas made it 3-1 in the sixth when Vlad Guerrero scored from second base as the Rays failed to turn an inning-ending double play.
Texas | Tampa Bay | |
Cliff Lee | Player | David Price |
Win | W/L | Loss |
9.0 | IP | 6.0 |
11 | Strikeouts | 6 |
6 | Hits | 8 |
1.00 | ERA | 4.50 |
Texas | Tampa Bay | |
Ian Kinsler | Player | Jason Bartlett |
3 | Hits | 3 |
3 | RBI | 0 |
1 | HR | 0 |
6 | TB | 4 |
.750 | Avg | .750 |